The Treasury Building in Washington D.C (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The newly created channel, which the US Treasury Department said became fully operational on Thursday as it granted the license, allows companies to send food, medicine, and other critical supplies to Iran.

Last week, US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said there was a lot of interest by food and drug companies in using the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement, which began trial operations last month with shipments of medicine. The agreement seeks to ensure that Swiss exporters and trading companies in the food, pharmaceutical, and medical sectors have a secure payment channel with a Swiss bank, through which payments for their exports to Iran are guaranteed.